Abstract

Adaptive optics in astronomical and other imaging systems allows compensation of aberrations introduced by random variations of the refractive index in the imaging path. I propose what I believe is a new type of adaptive optics system that dispenses with the hardware lenslet arrays and deformable mirrors of conventional systems. Theoretical and experimental studies show that wavefront sensing and compensation can be achieved by numerical processing of digital holograms of the incoherent object and a guide star. The incoherent digital holographic adaptive optics is seen to be particularly robust and efficient, with envisioned applications in astronomical imaging, as well as fluorescence microscopy and remote sensing.

Experimental demonstration of IDHAO using three red LEDs as the object: (a) complex hologram without aberrator, (b) reconstructed image, (c) complex hologram with aberrator, (d) best focus image reconstructed from the uncorrected hologram, (e) one of four holograms captured by camera without aberrator, (f) one of four holograms with the aberrator, (g) complex hologram of one LED as guide star, (h) corrected hologram by IDHAO, and (i) best focus image reconstructed from the corrected hologram.